Forum Archive : Rulings

Misplacing a checker on the bar From:   Jeb Horton Address:   jeb@carolina.rr.com Date:   18 December 2002 Subject:   Re: Yet another ethics question Forum:   GammOnLine > Last year, at the Venice tournament, one of the Norwegian players > accidentally put his own checker on the bar during a bearoff. On his next > roll he wanted to remove the checker, but his Swiss opponent insisted > that the checker was on the bar. There were many witnesses to the > incident. > > What are the rules here? Should the Norwegian player simply acknowledge > his error and play on without trying to remove the checker? Did the Swiss > player display poor sportmanship? Comments, anyone? Yes, the Swiss player is within his rights to insist that the checker remain on the bar. While I normally will not condemn a player for taking advantage of the rules, yes, the Swiss player was a poor sport. The usual ruling is that this is covered by the illegal play rule. Note that a player in the Norwegain's position could actually be angling here. Say you are far behind in the bear-off. You bear your checker off to the bar. Your opponent rolls a number that leaves a checker open. You then roll. If your roll a number that hits, it's "How did that checker get on the bar? I guess it's an illegal play and you didn't correct it, so I'll hit you." If you miss, just take 2 off. Leave the checker on the bar hoping for another shot. You run the risk that your opponent will make you play from there, but you were way behind anyway. If you never hit a shot, or roll a couple big sets, you eventually say "Oh, that's not supposed to be there..." So, even something as clear as incorrectly bearing off without contact is not always so clear. In practice, I *always* make my opponent remove borne-off checkers from the playing area. And, I always point out that I would be within the rules to make it stay and caution the player to be careful. I've seen players who bear-off into their outter board, or even to the mid and eight points -- setting up for the next game. I will not roll until the checkers are removed. I've also seen players who pick up their own checker when I roll a hitting number. I will not allow that checker to be held in the hand, refusing to pick up my dice until the checker is placed on the bar. I find I can live with myself better by following these policies.   Did you find the information in this article useful?           Do you have any comments you'd like to add?

 

Rulings

Checker knocked off bar  (Chuck Bower+, Sept 2003) 

Clock rules and gin positions  (Chris Yep+, Dec 2007) 

Clock rules end of turn  (Jason Lee+, Dec 2007) 

Cocked dice  (Rodney Lighton+, July 2012) 

Cocked dice  (Ed Rosenblum+, Dec 2009) 

Cocked dice  (Chuck Bower+, July 2003) 

Cocked die on first roll  (Cloyd Laporte+, Nov 2006) 

Crawford game double  (Øystein Johansen+, June 2004) 

Crawford game double  (Joe+, May 2004) 

Crawford game double  (Raccoon+, Sept 2003) 

Crawford game double  (Claes Thornberg+, Apr 1998) 

Dice sliding  (Chris Yep+, Dec 2007) 

Disagreement on final cube  (Chuck Bower+, May 2004) 

Disagreement over cocked dice  (DeaconBlue+, May 2005) 

Disputed roll  (Roland Scheicher+, Mar 2004) 

Disputed roll  (Chuck Bower+, Mar 2000) 

Doubling to wrong value  (Stein Kulseth+, Nov 1998) 

Equipment changes  (Jason Lee+, Feb 2004) 

Error in setup  (Stick+, Dec 2007) 

Incorrect setup  (Ken+, Mar 2004) 

Kibitzing  (Ilia Guzei+, Feb 2006) 

Misplaced cube  (Ned Cross+, Mar 2004) 

Misplacing a checker off the board  (Sam Pottle+, Apr 2006) 

Misplacing a checker on the bar  (Jeb Horton, Dec 2002) 

Moving checkers before you roll  (Gregg Cattanach+, Mar 2006) 

Moving with two hands  (Jason Lee+, Jan 2011) 

Opening roll loser picks up his die  (Chuck Bower+, Oct 2007) 

Playing to wrong match length  (Klaus Evers+, Jan 2006) 

Playing to wrong match length  (Marty Storer+, Mar 2005) 

Playing to wrong match length  (Steve Mellen, Feb 1998) 

Playing wrong opponent  (Hank Youngerman+, Oct 2005) 

Premature actions  (Raccoon+, Feb 2008) 

Premature roll  (Chris Yep+, Dec 2007) 

Repositioning dice without notice  (Chuck Bower+, Oct 2007) 

Rerolling cocked dice too quickly  (Raccoon+, Nov 2006) 

Rolling 2 dice instead of 1 to start  (Bob Koca+, Oct 2007) 

Rolling when opponent is closed out  (Raccoon+, Nov 2006) 

Rolling wrong dice  (TarHeelFan+, Sept 2005) 

Taking photos of positions  (Stick+, Dec 2007) 

Touching the doubling cube  (Ken Bame+, Nov 2006) 

Touching the doubling cube  (Chuck Bower+, Apr 1998) 

Two cubes on the board  (Jason Lee+, July 2005) 

Video dispute resolution  (Jason Lee+, Feb 2006) 

When are the dice "up"?  (Ilia Guzei+, Feb 2006) 

Writing down positions  (Klaus Evers+, Jan 2006) 

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